Present day sporting events are often played with objects, such as baseballs, hockey pucks, and lacrosse balls, to name but a few, that move at relatively high speeds. Spectator safety at such events is often a concern, and safety systems are commonly used to reduce or eliminate the possibility that an object from the sporting area will enter the spectator area. For example, hockey rinks generally have glass extending above dasher boards that provides spectators protection from pucks flying from the rink while also providing good visibility for spectators. Similarly, baseball fields commonly have nets or fencing placed at a certain distance behind and to the sides of the batting boxes to reduce the number of foul balls entering the spectator area.
While such safety systems provide some amount of protection to spectators, there continues to be some risk of injury for spectators attending such events. For example, at a hockey rink, a puck may come out of the arena above the above-mentioned glass and enter into the spectator area. As a result, some arenas place a net around portions of the rink to reduce the incidence of pucks entering the spectator area. Such nets are commonly placed only around the ends of the rink in proximity to the goals, as pucks leaving the arena above the glass in these areas are likely to have a higher velocity, and thus a higher likelihood of spectator injury, than pucks leaving the arena at other areas. Such nets are useful for reducing the incidence of pucks entering the spectator area, and the installation and replacement of such nets can be very time consuming and labor intensive.
Furthermore, such sporting events are often played in facilities that have multiple uses. For example, it is common that hockey teams and basketball teams use a common facility. Additionally, it is common that the playing season for the different sports played at a facility overlay, often resulting in games scheduled on consecutive days that require that the facility be converted between configurations in a relatively short time period.